President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission, Dr Omar Touray, has described the Dangote Petroleum Refinery as a transformational project with the capacity to meet the petroleum needs of Nigeria and the entire West African region.

Touray, who led a high-powered ECOWAS delegation on a working visit to the 650,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) facility in the Lekki Free Trade Zone (FTZ), Lagos, lauded the refinery as a “beacon of hope for Africa’s future” and a demonstration of what the private sector could achieve in driving regional industrialisation.

Moved by the scale and sophistication of the facility, the ECOWAS Commission President said: “What I have seen today gives me a lot of hope, and everybody who doesn’t believe in Africa should come here. Visiting here will give you more hope because this is exactly what our continent should focus on.

“We have seen something I couldn’t have imagined, and really the capacity in all areas is impressive. We congratulate Dangote for this trust in Africa because I think you do this only when you have the trust, and he has a vision for Africa, and this is what we should all work to encourage,”.

According to Touray, the refinery, which produces Euro V standard fuels, is critical to helping the sub-region meet its 50ppm sulphur limit for petroleum products, a standard many imported fuels fall short of.

“We are still importing products below our standard when a regional company such as Dangote can meet and exceed these requirements. The private sector must take the lead in ECOWAS industrialisation,” he added.

Commending Dangote Group’s investment in industrial development, Touray stressed that closer collaboration between governments and the private sector “is needed” to advance regional growth. He noted that their visit also served as an opportunity to hear directly from Dangote, about what the private sector expects from ECOWAS.

The ECOWAS President emphasised that a robust “industrial strategy is essential” to address persistent issues such as poverty, unemployment and insecurity. He pledged the Commission’s support in facilitating market access for the Dangote Group across West Africa and beyond.

Leading the delegation on a guided tour of the facility, President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, restated that the refinery was built with a pan-African vision and has the capacity to supply refined products across the sub-region.

“There have been many claims suggesting that we don’t even produce enough to meet Nigeria’s needs, so how could we possibly supply other West African countries? But now, they are here to see the reality for themselves and, more importantly, to encourage other nations to embark on similar large-scale industrial projects,” Dangote said. He warned that continued dependence on imports was unsustainable for the continent.

“As long as we continue importing what we can produce, we will remain underdeveloped. This refinery is proof that we can build for ourselves at scale, to global standards,” Dangote remarked.

Highlighting the economic benefits of domestic refining, Dangote noted the significant drop in diesel prices when the refinery began production last year.